Love Birds

Chapter Twenty Eight

-Dick's POV-

We voted quickly on who was going to go out to the Leaguers and tell them the plan. The mission was suicide. Unfortunately, I was voted since I was "friends" with the most of the older hero's. I mean, I was Batman's ward, friends with Superman, old pals with Cyborg and Red Arrow, I dated Zatanna and knew Rocket, and Wonder Woman used to come over at Wayne Manor a lot in the old days if you know what I mean.

I took a deep breath before opening the doors to the meeting room. All core members of the Justice League sat in front of me. This included: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Cyborg, and Aquaman. They all stared as I entered.

"Hello," I said, smiling confidently.

"Nightwing," Superman nodded.

"I have a mission to propose. A rescue mission to save Kid Flash." Unlike our group, no one gasped. They all looked shocked, but not as shocked as the Team members did.

"Continue."

"We mostly need Flash for the actual mission, but having the Justice League as back up seems like a good idea. Not saying anything's going to go wrong but, y'know," I was pretty nervous, but only Batman noticed. He raised an eyebrow and demonstrated silently how to take a deep breath.

"What's the plan?" Batman asked.

"Well, Flash and Kid Flash will be wearing cameras for us to monitor as they enter the Speed Force. They will then go into the parallel universe Wally is in, quickly retrieve him, and come back out the other side. From there, three of our volunteers will put Wally into an energy stabilizer and try to convince him that he is back in the right place. Easy." Answering smoothly, I started to regain some confidence back.

"Easy in theory, risky in practice," Superman pointed out.

"Agreed. Risking five lives for one seems very foolish." Martian Manhunter seemed disappointed to say it.

"It's worth the risk, though. This is one of us we're talking about," I tried to sound as calm as possible, "we've done plenty of risky missions to save civilians." To be honest, they were making me angry by saying no.

"Yes, but none so risky and with such a 'what if' plan," Wonder Woman said, "the plan seems like a big question. Is Wally actually alive? Is he actually in a different universe? Will this actually work? We can't take such a high risk on a plan that we aren't certain will work."

"I agree with Diana," Batman and Superman said. I looked over at Flash, who was staring emptily as if lost in thought. He hadn't said a thing during the whole argument.

"Listen, the Team has already agreed that we're doing this no matter the cost. All we need from the League is Flash. Now, we're not children anymore no matter how you see us. Most of us are in our teens if not in our twenties. We can make our own damn decisions -- and we have. We can do this mission without Flash if we need to, but know the cost will be much, much higher in that situation," I spat, crossing my arms. Flash looked up and stood.

"I don't know about this," he said before running out. I followed, but Nightingale stopped him.

"Hey, Barry, listen. I know it sounds crazy, but we have to do this. For Wally. We need you, he needs you. I called your wife, Iris, and explained the situation. Here," Nightingale pulled up a holographic message that was displaying Iris. Barry sighed and turned to face her.

"Barry, you have to do this," she said.

"I don't know, Iris. We all thought Wally was dead. What if he still is? It's all hypothetical, Iris. It's a lot of risk."

"I know it is. But this is my brother. The greatest little kid I've ever known. He was my brother, and it hurt when he died. But, it's gonna hurt more knowing that he might still be alive -- even if it's a small chance -- and we aren't doing everything we can do save him," Iris chocked up a bit, but held in her tears, "it's your choice, Barry."

"I...I..." Barry looked away for a bit, "yes. Yes. I can't believe I even hesitated. I am going to help. For Wally," Flash turned towards us, "let's do this."

"Tomorrow morning, be at STAR labs by eight," Nightingale said, smiling. He nodded and zoomed off. I frowned at her, realizing what she did. She caught my glance. As she walked by, she whispered to me, "a little manipulation never killed anybody."

The next morning, everyone involved in the rescue gathered in a huge lab. There were screens set up everywhere and a huge machine in the corner. Nightingale was setting the two Flashes up with cameras and microphones. I entered in and was immediately bombarded with protective gear. I volunteered to help Wally when he was brought back to our world. The other two volunteers were Superboy (he was strong enough to absorb all the atomic energy from Wally if it came down to it) and Tigris. I asked Artemis why she was wearing her new costume and she told me it was because that was probably the last thing Wally saw her in.

After I had my radioactive gear on, I stood beside the huge container connected to the machine. Nightingale stood to give a speech.

"Hey, today is a very dangerous day. When going through the Speed Force, the camera might stop working. When you arrive in the parallel, Wally might resist your help. He might be too weak from leaving his high-energy world to run through the Speed Force, but you have to get him to run. When he arrives back on Earth, he could die for real. No matter what, losing all that energy will make him very weak. So, take it easy on the encouraging words when he gets here at first," she looked at all of us, "that's just protocol -- to read what could go wrong. No matter what happens, we are saving Wally West. But, don't risk your life for no reason. Don't be a hero more than you already are."

The room was silent for a moment.

"Let's go save Wally West," Nightingale declared. We all muttered a 'yeah' as the two Flashes got ready to tap into the Speed Force.

~~~~~~~~~Short chapter, I know. But, I am going to be uploading one more chapter tomorrow before school starts for me again! This one is kind of boring, I know, but the next one is where all the action is! #SaveWallyWest2k16~~~~~~~~~~~~